Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are essential for cultivating respectful, bias-free working environments. Yet, such initiatives face increasing scrutiny over superficial implementations that serve only to appease external activists without achieving substantive internal change.
The evidence is there to support the vital importance of DEI—Deloitte reports that diverse talent can result in 27% higher profitability, 38% higher customer satisfaction, and 22% great productivity. Meanwhile, Boston Consulting Group shows companies with above average diversity in management report an average of 19% higher innovation revenue.
Improving DEI programs starts with leveraging better data that can identify gaps in a business’s current DEI initiatives. Despite this, Salesforce reports roughly eight in ten business leaders do not use data when developing their internal DEI practices.
For the FinTech industry especially, DEI needs to be transformed from merely a box-ticking process to a foundational practice driven by advanced data.
Jolina Stasunskaite (Chief People Officer at payabl.) explored these topics in depth in a recently published article in The Financial Technologist by Harrington Starr, including a discussion of the critical importance of improving DEI with data.